The Proud Flame
by Nyxius
Summary: Keiji is really close to Homra, and actually considers all of them family. One day as he and Yata are having a quick meal and a fight breaks out. Now a hurt Keiji is back at Homra with a very angry Mikoto, who doesn't understand why he would stand up for something as insignificant as his pride. But Keiji is about to surprise Mikoto with his confession. Rated T for language.


Disclaimer: I don't own K / K Project. All rights to the original owner(s).

-**The Proud Flames**-

* * *

When he first met that powerful flame, he couldn't help but feel drawn to it; like a moth to the flame…literally. At first he met some of the clansmen one by one, and hung out with them every so often. Then after a while, he started to get closer and closer… until he met their King. Suoh, Mikoto. He was stunned at first and was really intimidated by him, but Totsuka had eased him in. He felt more and more at home with everyone, and cherished every minute with all of them.

He felt like his purpose in life was to have relationships, and to share memories and stories with everyone he could. Deep down, Keiji was actually scared about leaving the world without leaving a part of him somewhere. He knew it must be silly to everyone else, but to him it was really important.

The friends he made in Homra, he hoped to keep. Everyone was so dear and precious to him. Misaki would always be by his side, and was the most fun out of all of them; the true pride of Homra. They would sometimes prank the others when they felt like being 'lil shits,' and would get into trouble; though most the time, trouble usually found them first.

All he remembered was someone was saying horrible things about his family; Homra, and Misaki flipped his shit. Even though he sometimes thought that Yata took things way too seriously, he couldn't help but agree this time. So he fought alongside of his friend; not knowing that soon the table would be flipped. As they were fighting, they hadn't noticed that the two people were actually in a group; who then had split them up. Fighting the best he could even though he hadn't become a clan member like his friends, he thought that he could take most of them on; which he had, until one hit him on the back with a crowbar that he hadn't seen. It was all downhill for him after that point, and he went out quickly.

When he woke up in the hospital, he was discharged when Izumo and Totsuka arrived, and was placed in a taxi which was headed for Bar. He was beaten pretty badly by the other gang members, while Misaki was busy with the others. He knew that Yata was going to feel guilty about the whole thing, but he hoped that he wouldn't be. He was in a lot of pain, but he could handle it if he didn't think on it too much.

When they arrived back at the bar, he felt like he was weak in the eyes of so many people who he'd come to admire and look up to. He felt so small. They'd sat him on a simple chair as they all started to gather some supplies that they would need to tend to him, so that he wouldn't fall off and proceed to further hurt himself; like a barstool would. He turned to look out the window as the rain was falling, and sighed. He really didn't want to look behind him, for he knew everyone was looking at him; he could literally feel there stares burning into his back. So instead he mused himself with the weather outside. It was such a beautiful day to begin with, but it was almost scary how the weather could change that quickly.

He was then snapped out of his thoughts when Rikio came over and picked him up to take him to the room that was prepared for him. And as he peeked over the others shoulder he saw that most of the members were not there, and must have either left or went home because of the weather. Misaki was sitting at the bar with a troubled look on his face; most likely he gotten a mouth full from Izumo and maybe Mikoto about his safety. And speaking of the king, he was sitting in his usual spot, but the glance at him almost made Keiji's heart stop. Mikoto was smoking a cigarette, but instead of having a laid back look on his face like he usually did, his face held was distorted by rage. And he didn't have to question who it was for either, because those rage filled eyes were trained only on him and he felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on his heart. He had only seen Mikoto angry once before, but he wasn't on the opposite side of Mikoto's glares, so this was very frightening to him. But before he could process what was happening Rikio already turned the corner and was headed up the stairs.

"Alright Keiji, here you are." Izumo said as Rikio; as gently as he could, sat Keiji down on the bed. He had never been upstairs in the bar, but even if he did it probably wouldn't matter to him; since it was pretty plain.

"…If you need anything, just text us and let us know. …By the way…Just a heads up… Mikoto may be up in a bit… I think he wants to talk to you." Izumo said before he turned and walked out of the door that Rikio had gone through a few moments before. Now he was terrified.

When he had spent time with him, he had always felt so small but protected, but now he felt like prey. His heart began to beat a little faster when he thought back on how Mikoto was like a ticking time bomb. Then again, maybe he was just scaring himself with worrisome thoughts like he usually did.

He didn't have to wait long, for the said person to come into the room with him. Mikoto moved silently that he had almost missed him that is if the other hadn't had this pissed attitude with he didn't even try to hide. Keiji hoped that the others were not too far off just in case Mikoto would take things too far. Though he felt bad for thinking that, he also knew from personal reasons that it was better to prepare for something like this than to go head first into something that could be fatal. He also knew from experience since his father was a drunk and would often beat his mother and him, so it was more of a defense mechanism than anything. He felt that coldness worm its way back into his heart as the other just stood in the middle of the room and just stared at him for a while before he started to speak.

"…Are you going to tell me why you're lying in my bed half dead?" he somewhat asked, though Keiji felt like it was more of a statement telling him to spill his guts.

Keiji just lied there and looked up at the red head before him with a blank face that he usually wore when things were heated, and collected his thoughts before answering.

"…I'm sorry… I'm sorry for being trouble for you and your clan. …" he said as he bowed his head and looked to the sheets that covered the bed instead. He really didn't want to talk right now, but he felt like Mikoto would force him to anyways so he really didn't have a choice right now.

"…That wasn't an answer." He replied with some bite in his voice. "I asked why do you look like road kill?"

He sighed and looked up into those fiery eyes of the red king. "…Because… I was defending you."

"…I don't need defending." Was the reply that was bitten out by the other, and Keiji was cracking on the inside. Why did Mikoto have to be like this?

"I don't know why Yata and you insist on defending my honor. …Would you risk your life for me, just because someone is talking shit about me?" he asked after a few seconds.

He held eye contact with Mikoto before he answered quite boldly. "I would, and I would do it a thousand times over if I could…no matter how painful."

He could feel that Mikoto was getting angrier at him, but it looked like he had given up by the sigh he let out. It would seem that he couldn't understand why we were so prideful of Homra, but to us it was important. So why couldn't he see it for himself?

Mikoto had turned away from him, and looked to be about to leave, but Keiji decided to ask him a question also.

"Why do you do that?" he asked, and the red head stopped and turned his head with a look of "what" written on it.

"Why do you think so poorly of yourself?" he asked, and if looks could kill then he'd be dead. The red king turned to leave again, but was stopped in his tracks.

"I'm a bastard." Keiji just spewed out the first thing that came to his head, but continued as he gazed at the back of the red king. "When I was little… I was taught that you are important and that honor was priority. If I would do anything to dishonor my family then I would be cast out, and would be dirty. But that quickly changed. One day my father got sick, and the people whom he worked for didn't want a sickly man to work for them, so they removed him. So did my family's honor. My father reduced to drinking and blaming my mom and me for everything, and I was then taught that it's better to beg and get what you need than to starve yourself because of your pride. But even though I've been taught that, I couldn't stand the sight of my parents acting like lowly dogs, and beggars. It made me sick, and so I left.

…I feel like the only one to hold my family's honor was myself... And whomever I think is my family, should be honored as such." He paused to give the other some time to process that, before he continued again.

"I think a family should have honor, because if there is no honor, it will go to pieces like mine. And I don't want to see my new home and family go down that path again.

…I don't know how you feel about it, but even though I don't bare your mark, I consider everyone in Homra my family…Including you. I don't care if you don't think you don't deserve it or not, but you can never change my mind." He finished quickly, still looking at the red kings back.

He felt really embarrassed now; he had spilt his guts to the red king, and since Mikoto wasn't saying anything and looked tense he got really scared. So he turned over as slowly and easily as possible, and said a quick apology to the other. 'I must have over stepped my boundary.' He thought to himself.

After a few minutes had passed he had thought the other had left because of the thick silence of the room, but was surprised when he felt the bed dip; which startled him really bad.

Mikoto had sat down on the bed beside of the wounded Keiji, trying to be and gentle as he could; but somewhat failed when he noticed he had startled the younger male. So he place a hand on Keiji's shoulder; a Mikoto way of asking forgiveness.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, but to Keiji if felt like hours; and he almost wanted to shake the hand off.

Mikoto moved again to lie down beside him and took Keiji into his arms, as he warmed them with his aura. Keiji; who was highly uncomfortable with the new addition, was a bit stiff when Mikoto had pulled him closer.

"Relax…" was the order that the red head gave to him, as he tensed up.

He felt the Mikoto's breath on his ear, and struggled to keep calm; since his nerves was all over the place now. It took a bit of time for him to calm, but soon he felt himself relaxing against Mikoto who was acting like a furnace; which was greatly appreciated from the younger one.

And as they'd done before, they stayed silent. Keiji had thought that he had fell asleep because of the deep rhythm of breath against his neck; He knew Mikoto had a weird way of falling asleep pretty much anywhere, but he never imagined him falling asleep next to him. Or spooning him for that matter. He was about to fall asleep himself, but was startled out of his dozing state by a gruff voice next to his ear.

"…I'm honored to be part of your family."

That simple sentence for the other was enough to draw some tears. Nobody could ever know how important his friends were to him, and how he considered them his family. So this to him was a very serious matter.

"…I've been thinking about this for a while now…" Mikoto started and paused; as if he was either trying to find the right words, or was too lazy to finish what he was saying in one go.

"…How would you like to join MY family officially?"

* * *

First of all~ Keiji is my self insert. He is also a character in a web comic that is being produced.

These are going to be a series of drabbles, that I've dreamed up that are around the web comic and K project.

This is like the sub stories to the main story.


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